Every $10,000 invested at Amazon’s IPO in 1997 would today be worth $4.8 million. Even if you only had $1,000 to invest in 1997, today you’d have more than $626,000.

But who could have predicted back then that an online bookstore would, in two decades time, become one of the world’s most dominant online stores –– offering everything from the books they started with to the high-end fashion that resisted for so long?

That is an 18,650% increase in global internet usage and an 18,233% increase in online sales.

Since 1997, there has been a 18,650% increase in global internet usage and an 18,233% increase in online sales.

Amazon’s stock price has risen in equal measure, from $18 in 1997 to around $948 at the time of writing –– a 5,166% increase.

This is no chicken and egg problem –– clearly the internet and online sales came first. But these days, it’s hard to tell whether Amazon grows larger as the internet and online sales do, or if the internet and online sales grow larger as Amazon does.

Either way, the relationship is symbiotic, and though for much of Amazon’s history small business and other verticalized online sellers made an enemy of the marketplace, those tides are very quickly changing.

After all, as the ecommerce industry hits one milestone after the other –– so, too, does Amazon.

2006

2007

Apple introduces the iPhone, revolutionizing the way we interact with mobile devices.

Today, 80% of online shoppers visit retail sites on mobile devices and mobile commerce is expected to top $152B by 2021.

2009

BigCommerce is founded, providing a SaaS solution for small businesses looking to launch online storefronts.

Today, BigCommerce serves startups to enterprise brands making more than $100 million in annual revenue. Low cost of total ownership, easy customization and built-in marketing tools empower ecommerce brand employees and entrepreneurs to earn more sales across the web.

The Converging of Retail

As you can see, 2016 was a pivotal year for online brands when it came to sentiment about selling on Amazon.

Now, as the world’s 5th largest company, online brands have come to understand that trying to compete with Amazon is not an effective business strategy.

Instead, these brands have turned to finding ways to leverage the marketplace to their advantage –– growing sales and driving revenue through channels beyond their webstore.

Looking only at BigCommerce merchants, we know that:

20% of BigCommerce customers have connected their websites to at least one additional channel, like Amazon.

Of merchants who have enabled Amazon, roughly 12% of cumulative GMV comes through Amazon.

According to a recent survey of BigCommerce merchants, 73% of SMBs are considering expanding to sell on Amazon or eBay in 2017.

The Amazon Timeline

Here is what the past 20 years look like, visually, as Amazon and other online brands converge –– offering merchants additional product options, prices and convenience at every step along the way.

What does this mean for your brand?

Selling on Amazon may not be the right choice for all brands –– depending on the products you sell and the stage of growth you are in.

Let’s look at a few ways to determine whether your brand is ready to sell on Amazon.

Offer Unique Items, Not Third-Party

According to James Thomson, Partner at the Buy Box Experts and former Head of Selling on Amazon, the products that do best on Amazon are unique items. This means goods you manufacture and sell yourself.

Here is a short list of BigCommerce merchants selling successfully both on their webstore and on Amazon to give you an idea of what “unique products” means:

Dazadi

Austin Bazaar

Kap7

The Dairy Fairy

BeachRC

Folding Chairs and Tables

In general, if you both make and sell your own unique products, you are a good candidate for selling and succeeding on Amazon.

Set Up Your Amazon Channel Right – The First Time

There are plenty of nuances to successfully selling on Amazon, in the same way there are nuances to successfully selling on your webstore. Here are a few to watch out for:

Get your taxes in working orders: immediately upon signing up a new seller account, go into the Settings –> Tax Settings, and designate not only in which states you want Amazon to collect state sales tax, but also set the “Use default Product Tax Code” setting to “A_GEN_TAX.”

Measure profitability accurately: Don’t average everything out, and look only at your overall sales numbers and margins. Start thinking about every SKU you sell on Amazon as having its own P&L, its own market forces, and its own level and types of competitions. Such an approach has helped many a seller rationalize its catalog, focusing on bottom line growth ahead of all other financial goals.

Look out for duplicate listings from competitors: Duplicate listings on Amazon can be an effective way for competitors to divert traffic away from your product listings back to theirs. It’s worth, at least once a quarter, to search the whole Amazon catalog for duplicate listings of your items.

Know if You Need to Outsource

If selling on Amazon is new for you, remember that you do not have to do all of the selling, setup or optimization by yourself. It may be worth it for your to hire a few outside and experienced sources to help you with tasks so you can focus on both your webstore and your Amazon channel growth.

We’ve put together a list of more than 230 companies that do just that, and sectioned them out by the service they offer and how to know you need them.

You’re in luck! Use our free ASIN Lookup tool to figure out which keywords your competitors are using to rank highly on Amazon –– and then alter your strategy to boost your rankings (and your sales).

Sell What Works

Folding Chairs and Tables now sees more than 10% of their revenue coming directly from Amazon –- and they’ve only been selling on Amazon a couple months.

How did they become so successful so fast?

By focusing on a single product they sell nowhere else on the web.

Using their BigCommerce Analytics, they were able to see which products sell the best together and offered a table + chairs listing combo on Amazon that immediately beat out other listings and drove increased sales to their brand.

Now, they are exploring additional product bundle launches on Amazon –– keeping their offerings on the marketplace and on their webstore different for the various audiences that shop on either one.

Final Word

If your brand is a fit to sell on Amazon, start doing so now. Amazon isn’t going anywhere –– and as they expand to additional markets and continue to invest in the latest and greatest in ecommerce innovation, your brand and products will be right there along for the ride.

20 years ago, had you invested, you’d be half a million dollars richer. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by again.

We’re on a mission to provide businesses like yours marketing and sales tips, tricks and industry leading knowledge to build the next house-hold name brand. Don’t miss a post. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Tracey Wallace is the Editor-in-Chief at BigCommerce, where she covers all things ecommerce: marketing, design, development, strategy, plus emerging trends, including omnichannel and cloud replatforming.She is also the Founder of Doris Sleep, a bed pillow company selling 100% certified recycled plastic bottle filled pillows in three custom sizes.